2017 Champ B1 Round 14 vs Bunbury RUFC

Southern Lions Champ B1 team travelled to Bunbury RUFC for the only time in 2017. Lions were looking to improve on their last outing at Arks RUFC. Bunbury are always a tough match at their grounds and plenty of teams have lost after the long trip south in 2017.

Coach Dan King provided the following summary

"Another week, another tough hard fight.

This was my first visit to Bunbury's ground so wasn't sure what what to expect, in terms of playing we know that the Bunbury boy's would be good at home and have numbers.

I thought we had a good relaxed ride down on the bus, arrived on time and had a walk around the pitch before we warmed up, so in terms of prep we were ready. It was Bunbury who came out the traps firing and in the opening minutes the was taking the game to us with pace and some great offloads and scored the opening try of the game. I think we were a bit shocked as we wasn't expecting them to come out so fired up, then we gave away a silly penalty and went behind 8 - 0.

If it wasn't for some great defense and tackles they could have sneaked another score but we got one back and then kept building from there. To be fair to Bunbury in parts of the game they went really hard and had some really big lads out there, their scrum was strong too and they put us under pressure it was a good test for us. I am really pleased that we absorbed the pressure and bounced back with some great scores after patient phases. Lineout went went and boys looked good with ball in hand, Jack had a great game as did the whole front row, locks and loosies were effective to. PJ had another storming game despite having man flu he picked up two trys. Xavier had great game and it was good to get young Tate a run out as well.

Matt Riches picked up a bad knock on his knee so we will monitor his progress and hope he is back soon as we need him.

Scores came from PJ (2), Matt, Jack, Jayden (2), Nathan only put over two kicks today so I will have to have a word with his dad!

Overall I would rate our performance as 8 out 10, thanks to Bunbury for being great hosts and we wish them all the best for rest of season."

Team

1. Loose head prop King, Jason
2. Hooker Meyer, Bruce C
3. Tight head prop Ayscough, Jack
4. Left lock Cleary, Thomas D
5. Right lock Swinny, Irwin E
6. Left flanker Rule, Benjamin J
7. Right flanker Frasson, Xavier A
8. Number eight Jackson, Peter (c)
9. Scrum half Olislaegers, Ben P
10. Fly half Lamatoa, Nathan I
11. Left wing Jacques, Jayden P
12. Left centre Henry, Hami
13. Right centre Clifton, Michael A
14. Right wing Delome, Kurt D
15. Full back Riches, Matthew J
16. Reserve Coffey, Timothy J
17. Reserve King, Daniel D
18. Reserve Haapu, Rewi
19. Reserve Chapman, Chris B
20. Reserve Rigby, Blake E
21. Reserve Tairea, Junior

Scorers

Tries
Jackson, Peter x 2;
Jacques, Jayden P x 2;
Ayscough, Jack x 1;
Riches, Matthew J x 1

Conversions
Lamatoa, Nathan I x 2